


Bookstore of the Hunted

by anjubatus



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: 17th Century, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, M/M, Witch Hunts, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 03:51:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16400810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anjubatus/pseuds/anjubatus
Summary: In the ages of the famous witch hunts, people with magical abilities have been driven into hiding, fearing for their lives. Some witches run away from society to live alone surrounded by only nature, others attempt to adapt to a life among the rest of the population ready to use drastic measures to hide their identity. How should a pair of young witches try to survive in ages like these?Happy Halloween!---Changed title because the first one was so rushed.





	1. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there. This is my first ever time writing fanfiction, so I hope my inexperience won't bother you too much. I got the idea for this fic from a song on youtube called "Witch" by Luka (vocaloid) so go ahead and watch it to maybe get a feel to what this fic might be like in the future if you want, even though the actual story of it doesn't follow the story of this one much at all. I didn't intend for everything to be completely realistic to the times too but I have done some research at least. I hope you enjoy! Comments and criticism would be highly appreciated :)

 

”Maki! Come here!” A small boy waved excitedly to his twin sister at the other side of the front yard. She had been peeking over the fence, trying to get a glimpse of the pigs on the other side. ”Look what I did!”

”What is it?” Maki walked over, acting indifferent. The boy, about four years old, was sitting in the middle of a small patch of flowers, his clothes muddy all over. There was a little name-tag on his shirt with ’Shuichi’ written on it that his mother had sewn in place; now it was completely unreadable. He pointed at a single pink and purple flower, with some of it’s petals weirdly enlarged. It clearly stood out of the bunch of smaller light blue flowers. ”I did that!” Shuichi gave his sister a toothy smile and stared at her, waiting for her reaction.

Maki looked at the flower for a moment. It was pretty, she thought. She wanted to put it in her hair and show it to her mother, who had seemed more stressed than usual the past couple of days. But she wasn’t about to admit that to her brother. ”You’re lying. You didn’t do that.” She crouched down and stared at it harder, her messy dark hair falling over her knees.

”Yes I did! I swear…” Shuichi looked upset at his sister’s refusal to acknowledge him. ”I can do it again, look, look…” He chose another flower from the patch and raised his right hand next to it. Then, after taking a second to remember how he did it before, he concentrated and moved his shaky fingers into a hand signal of sorts. It cast a shadow on the ground resembling some kind of a misshapen lizard. Maki stopped trying to act uninterested and stared at his hand, trying to memorize the shape. Little black tattoo-like images started forming and moving in a line from the boy’s armpit towards his fingers. Shuichi bit his lip and raised one of his fingers, twisting another one a bit to the left. The images on his arm evolved into more complex shapes in a wave-like movement as well. Then he made sure his aim was good and released the spell.

The flower turned bright yellow in the center. A single petal grew twice as big as before.

Shuichi poked at his creation, disappointed. ”I’ll try next”, said Maki and sat down across from him, pointing her hand at another flower. She did just like she remembered her brother doing, but much hastier. The flower shriveled up and turned almost black.

”You can’t do it like that!” he chastised her. She scowled at him and crossed her arms. ”You have to be _patient._ ” ”No, you’re just a slowpoke like always.” Shuichi ignored her insult and tried again, this time twisting a finger a bit to the right at the end instead. The flower grew a couple of large petals and turned white instead. It still wasn’t right, but he was interested now. What else could he do if he just changed the formation a little bit?

The two started to take turns. About an hour later the patch was full of colourful and oddly shaped flowers, only a couple having been left alone.

Finally, Shuichi was starting to grow bored of the game. He yawned and took a glance at the sunset, thinking about going to bed. Then he looked closer. That didn’t look like the sun…

”Look. What’s that over there?” he asked casually and pointed towards the forest. His sister was still full of energy, sitting down next to a whole new patch of flowers. ”What?” She turned to where he was pointing.

On the far end of the road where the forest started, the two could see a bunch of tiny lights in an unorganized row. Muffled noises of a crowd could now be heard as well.

”A festival?” Maki shrugged. But Shuichi didn’t like the occasional angry shoutings and he moved closer to her, ready to hide behind her. She had always been the tough one after all.

Right then the front door flew open and their mother stepped outside.

The kids turned to her and stood up in excitement. ”Mom! Look!” they called to her in unison as she approached. _She is going to love this!_ ”Look what we made.” Shuichi stepped out of the way so that his mother could see their flowers. But she didn’t look at them. Instead, she grabbed his arm, and then Maki’s, before dragging both of them inside. They started to protest, they wanted to tell her to go back and _look,_ but the expression on her face made them shut their mouths until she closed the door behind them.

”Maki. Shuichi.” she crouched down to their level. The two stayed silent, waiting. Wondering if she was mad about something. ”I’m going to do something that will hurt for a moment now, okay? And after that… Well…” she paused. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. ”Just bear this. You’re a big girl and boy now, aren’t you?” Even while she was talking, both her hands were signaling. Strings of rhythmically evolving images ran up her arms as her fingers kept forming new shapes. At some point, white mist had started to appear around her hands as well. Shuichi didn’t like the idea at all. He wasn’t a big boy, he didn’t want to get hurt. He didn’t even know what was happening or why. His eyes met Maki's for a moment: if she could stay tough, he should too. But even his sister looked unsure.

”Why?” Shuichi asked finally. ”Did we do something…?” he lowered his voice and started to feel guilty. Maybe they shouldn’t have played around with the flowers like that. If so, he should confess that he was the one to come up with the idea... His mother’s hands paused suddenly; the spell was ready. The strings continued long enough to find their place, then paused as well, though the little images would still shift around like they were alive.

”We’re in a hurry. Don’t move.” Then she put her hands on the right side of both of their chests and released the spell.

At first they didn’t feel anything other than warmth where their mother had pressed her hands. Then Shuichi heard Maki gasp, shortly followed by a burning pain on his own skin. He would’ve reflexively jumped away from the hand, but the spell kept him in place. Suddenly the sensation turned searing cold and he grit his teeth. Tears started to form in his eyes. _What is happening?_ But right as he was about to scream out in pain, the hand was removed from his chest and the feeling started to slowly fade away.

He still didn't want to move. Neither did Maki, even though they were both allowed to now. They looked like they were just about to start sobbing.

”I’m sorry”, their mother said quietly. She put her now clear arms around them and pulled them into a hug. ”You didn’t do anything. It’s all on me. And now…” The oil lamp lighting up the room had just petered out. Shadows fell on her face as she pulled away. The kids stared back at her, confused and upset, chests still aching.

”This is where we part ways, my dears… goodbye.”

 

—

 

”Chief”, called a man holding a torch, hurrying to the front of the group. A rough accent could be heard in his voice. ”This is the house?”

The chief nodded. ”A witch and two children. That’s what I was told.” He stepped in front of the gate and kicked it open.

The man followed him through the gate, the rest of the group close behind. The angry chatter behind him almost drowned out his voice. ”And it was decided to not put the witch through a trial…was it? Is that wise?”

”The source I got my information from is very trustworthy. I see no reason to doubt the claim.”

”I see”, the man accepted, before hitting his leg on a piece of wood. He swallowed a curse. ”What about the kids?”

The chief stopped for a moment, taking in the whole area. What a charming little house and farm. And so deceitful… ”The children”, he pondered. ”They may not be hers… Witches are known to kidnap small children. But I do not like the idea of letting two possible little witches run off free.” He paused and nodded to himself, deciding. ”We’ll put them through the trials.”

The man grimaced, half from pain, half from pity. ”Poor things… Makes me hope they deserve it too. Well, what can you do.” As he was checking his leg for a bruise, he spotted something strange on the ground. ”Hey, chief. Look at this.” He had almost stepped in a patch of flowers. Flowers that upon closer inspection looked nothing like all the other flowers in the yard; all disfigured and wildly coloured, some completely black and clearly dead.

”Abominations”, he muttered to the chief who had just turned around to look at the patch as well. He kicked an especially strange looking flower with his foot. ”Imagine what she could do to a human.”

 

The front door was kicked open. The chief had taken out his protective charm and he stood at the door, waiting for a reaction. Behind him, the crowd readied their weapons in case they were met with resistance. But they heard nothing except heavy breathing from the dark end of the room.

The chief posed confidently and took steps towards the breathing figure. He held the charm in his hand, arm stretched out in front of him. The figure was leaning against the wall at the far back. Hair was covering her face so he couldn’t see what she looked like, and there was some sort of dark liquid dripping from her hands and splattered on her dress. Soon, the torches from the crowd following after the chief brought light into the room. He stopped. The liquid on her was dark, rusty red; clearly blood.

He signaled his followers to stop as well. ”Witch”, he called out to the figure. ”I’ve come to arrest you for your crimes of black magic. Your satanic practices end here. Surrender immediately!”

The witch only sighed heavily and stood up straighter.

The chief let two of his followers closer to the witch. They pointed their weapons at her. ”Your neighbours told me there are two small children living in this house with you. Now, you’re going to tell me where they are. Lying is useless”, he commanded.

The witch only quietly chuckled in response. The two followers prodded at her with their weapons, but the chief just shook his head. ”Search the house!”

The house was quite small. There were only two doors on both sides of the wall the witch was leaning against. Several crowd members picked a door closest to them and sheepishly tiptoed closer, occasionally glancing at the witch, afraid to get too close to the bloody figure. The man that had been talking to the chief before pushed a shaking man out of his way and walked over to the door on the left. He grumbled about the cowardliness of the others before pushing the door open, his torch lighting up the room on the other side.

His hand immediately flew up to cover his nose.

One step into the room, he stood there frozen, taking in the sight. A woman who had tried to follow him inside peeked over his shoulder before turning right back around with a white face. Not too long after he could hear the sound of throwing up behind him. The witch must have noticed as well, because the quiet chuckles started to grow louder and more hysterical.

The same red, smelly liquid that they’d just seen on the witch’s hands and dress was splattered all across the room, and in the center of the room was a shapeless mess of fresh bones, guts and flesh. Pink stripes of skin peeked from the sides. The only thing distinguishing the mess as having been a human once was pieces of tattered and bloodied clothing lying under and on top of the mess, and the man thought he could even make out a little name tag on one of them. Gasps of horror and a scream could be heard from the other side of the house; it looked like the others were met with a similar sight.

The man quickly stepped back out of the room and shut the door. He could barely keep himself from gagging. That was most definitely the work of a witch; the thing looked like it had exploded from inside. ”We found the kids”, he mumbled to the chief, wiping his mouth. It wasn’t a sight he would forget quickly.

”Go take a look, mister”, the witch cackled to the chief standing in front of her. He just stared back at her, expressionless. ”I prepared it just for you!” She jeered and leaned forward to taunt him. He could see her face clearly now for the first time. She seemed to be highly enjoying idea of being able to shock even his sturdiest men into having nightmares for days.

”Paedicide”, the chief announced calmly. There was no need to see the rooms for himself, the reactions from the others were enough confirmation for him. ”Do not be suprised, my good people. This is exactly something a Satan’s henchman would do. We were simply… too late.” He turned to leave. ”Come. We’ve amused this wile creature for long enough. Take her and let’s go.”

The witch was leaning back against the wall again, seemingly exhausted after her work. She didn’t get a chance to rest any longer however, as right then the two men who had been threatening her with weapons grabbed her arms and forced her to walk out with them. The tiny hatch to the basement that she had been standing on creaked as she walked off.

Outside, it had gotten completely dark. The angry crowd dragging the witch along moved further and further along the road away from the little house, until only the faraway lights from their torches could be seen at the forest’s entrance. A single pig had been left whining and searching the forgotten backyard; it seemed to be the only one to notice its two siblings having suddenly gone missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know, paedicide is a rare word I found for the murder of a child or children. I wanted to use the more commonly known word infanticide (not just for this chapter) because it was often included in the list of sins that witches were believed to commit, but then I looked it up and found it's a word for only children under the age of one year, so... I hope this choice isn't odd to you haha.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I actually wrote chapter one before writing the epilogue so I'll probably post it pretty soon here too. In the mean time, tell me your thoughts?


	2. The Bookstore

 

An old man slept soundly in his bed, the usual wrinkles caused by stressing over his store smoothed out for once. Early evening sun lit the dusty room in light shades of orange. A much younger man, almost a teenager, with a somewhat small figure and piercing eyes was standing at the doorframe, quietly watching over the sleeping figure.

When the old man showed no signs of stirring, Shuichi Saihara sighed and turned to leave, worry on his face. He had known for a long time that his adopted guardian was getting too old to keep working the way he used to. Today was the day he had finally collapsed from exhaustion. Shuichi remembered the times he was still a young child; uncle, as the man liked to be called, had always seemed to be at the peak of his health, dealing with tough customers and lifting heavy piles of books like it was nothing and still somehow having the time and energy to take care of Shuichi on top of it all. It seems those days were over now.

”I think it’s best you leave the bookstore to me from now on, uncle”, Shuichi told the sleeping man and shut the door behind him. The old wood creaked under him and the noises from outside grew stronger as he headed back downstairs. The day wasn’t over and there could be customers waiting, so Shuichi had to return to his position behind the counter.

After consoling the single customer who had witnesses uncle's collapse that he was doing _just fine_ , Shuichi sat alone behind the counter for a while. The muffled voices of a distant large crowd outside went silent for a moment before raising again even stronger than before, and Shuichi thought he could hear what they were chanting... He felt a little sick.

Hours passed. The sun crept towards the horizon, now casting strong shades or red and purple in the sky. Shuichi looked out the window feeling more tired than usual and considered closing the store a little earlier. He had always been a big reader, probably due to having lived most of his life surrounded by books and having very few friends to go out with, so he had developed a habit of stuffing away a couple of books from the store under the counter to read whenever it got quiet inside. Today however, the words didn’t seem to want to stick to his head and he hardly had enough focus to finish a single chapter. He had a lot to prepare for after all, now that he would be in charge of taking care of both the store and his uncle’s health. Just thinking about all the responsibilities made his eyes feel heavy with exhaustion... But right as he put his book down to call it a day, a shadow appeared at the door and a tidy young woman with a long, almost black hair and a red dress stepped into the store.

"Welcome!" Shuichi greeted her and put on a friendly smile despite his weariness, but she barely turned to look at him.

It took just a few more glances at the lady to make him start to feel nervous. Not that it was uncommon for him to feel like that, especially around attractive and confident people like her; he had always been shy and reserved and got crushes on people a little too easily. This was different though. From the dark expression on her face and the red colour of her eyes resembling that of blood a little too much, to the way she refused to even acknowledge Shuichi’s presence… everything about this lady was screaming " _don’t bother me!"_ So, as she walked by, Shuichi just sat quietly behind the counter, sheepishly glancing at her back disappearing behind the shelves. Soon he could only now and then hear a book being picked off the shelves. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, wishing he had got the idea to close the store just a bit earlier and reached for the book under the counter again.

It was mostly silent for about twenty minutes apart from the usual commotion outside until Shuichi heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to the lady, who was still wearing a scowl on her face but whose posture seemed almost awkward now.

”Are the books in this room the only ones in store?” she asked. Shuichi could hear from her tone that she had been hoping to not interact with him at all if she didn’t think she had to. _Don't feel offended... she doesn't even know you,_ he thought to himself to brush away his insecurities. He didn’t say anything back, just circled around the counter and showed her the way downstairs to the basement. The room under the stairs was a much darker place compared to the rest of the house, lit only with an oil lamp on each end of the room. It was a more excluded area of the store that they usually only showed to customers if they specifically asked for it, so usually just rich collectors or his uncle's friends; Shuichi wondered if the lady had heard of this store before. His uncle had liked to hide the rarer, older and more expensive books here. Keeping them secluded from the common store area made it less likely for someone reckless to mess with them.

Shuichi told the lady to be careful with the worn-out books and quickly left her alone.

As soon as he had closed the door to the basement he noticed a tiny redhead walking through the open door, swiftly moving towards the bookshelves. He caught a glimpse of her far-away expression and stopped in his tracks to call out to her.

”Hey, Himiko!”

But instead of replying, Himiko just disappeared behind the shelves just like the lady before. It seems today Shuichi was being ignored even more than usual... He scratched his head and looked for the little sliver of red speeding through the gaps in the shelves before following after her.

Himiko stopped by her usual spot in the dusty corner of the room with a little reading chair in it and started looking through a nearby pile of books. Her short bobbed hair and very small size often made Shuichi think of a child; it was hard to believe she was really just one year younger than him. He often wondered if she was looking for something specific in the books as she liked to just quickly flip through them and then move on to the next, like she was in a hurry.

Himiko hadn’t reacted to Shuichi approaching at all and he stopped a few steps behind her. He tilted his head to look over her shoulder at the book she had just picked from the pile. Then he poked the back of her head. The book dropped from her hands.

”Hey, Himiko”, Shuichi tried again. ”Don’t tell me you really didn’t notice me here at all?”

”Shuichi! I… uhhh…” she turned to him slowly with a confused look. ”I thought you were studying upstairs…” Shuichi just gave her a little laugh; he was already used to Himiko spending a bit too much time deep in her own little dream worlds.

”It’s okay. Are you finally going to tell me what you’re looking for? I could help you, you know”, He offered, pointing at the pile of books. He didn’t think even his uncle had studied the books they had as thoroughly as he had.

Himiko avoided the question. ”Are you helping with the store? Yesterday you said you had other plans for today”, she asked him back instead. Shuichi scratched his neck and turned his eyes to the window.

”Uncle… can’t take care of the store anymore. He collapsed while working today and has been sleeping in his room since”, he said and smiled sadly. Then he turned back to Himiko. ”It’s my job now. And... I won’t have much time for other hobbies from now on.”

”…Ah.” Himiko’s usually sleepy eyes widened. ”But wouldn’t he just come back to work after he’s had enough rest? He can’t be _that_ old yet.”

Shuichi just shook his head. Even if she visited the store often, Himiko hadn’t seen the man grow more frail and weak with every day that passed like he had for months now. He didn’t like the idea of sacrificing his studies to keep the store up but he wasn’t about to let his only parental figure work himself to death.

Himiko saw the look on his face and swallowed her argument.

”I see.” She put her hands behind her back and stared at the ground, sulking. ”Does that mean you won’t have time anymore… for me too?” She muttered. Shuichi chuckled at the childish display.

”Of course I’ll have time for you. Come here tomorrow after work, okay? I’ll make you pancakes.” He ruffled her hair. She didn’t say anything, but her face didn’t look so troubled anymore.

Himiko had been, thorough Shuichi’s entire life at the bookstore, his only friend that had never left him. Even though he was sure a big reason for that was simply the fact that her and her parents had always lived a very short distance from the store. He knew the reason Himiko had even started to visit the bookstore was because her parents always bugged her to go outside but she was always too low on energy to go somewhere too far or with too many people. Still, he appreciated it. He’d got to know some other kids every now and then but his shy and reserved nature always made them drift apart after a while. Sometimes he’d seen other kids come through the store while he was helping his uncle and he hoped he could talk to them, but often he'd just end up hiding behind the bookshelves until they left and he never saw them again. Shuichi hadn’t talked to Himiko at first either, but when her visits became a habit, he finally got the courage to introduce himself. Himiko never seemed to mind how quiet he was. She wasn’t too big of a talker herself either. And so, they got comfortable around each other fairly quickly. It was an easy friendship, the kind that Shuichi had never really had before, and the first one to last.

Nowadays, he’d gotten used to talking to their customers enough to not feel shy around them anymore, but it hardly extended outside of work. When he was out buying groceries or other business, he didn’t talk to anyone and no one talked to him apart from a couple of kind old ladies.

”Fine!” Himiko exclaimed suddenly and finally looked up. Shuichi looked back at her quizzically. _Fine?_

”I’ll tell you what I’m looking for. Just for… the pancakes.” _Ah. The books._

”Alright”, Shuichi replied curiously. She had been secretive about this for months. ”I’m listening.” With that, Himiko looked like she was almost starting to regret agreeing to anything. But then she cleared her throat.

”I’m looking for… references to, well," she took a pause. "...Witch spells.” Her voice gradually became more quiet and mumbled towards the end. They both stayed completely silent for a moment.

Shuichi stared at her with a blank face. He wasn’t sure if he felt more horrified or impressed. This was so incredibly typical of her, but _months?_ He had never in his life seen her actually work hard for anything like this before, and he wanted to be happy for her, but it had to be _this._

Himiko didn’t stare back at him for long, and soon her eyes were flickering everywhere in the room except on Shuichi. ”Himiko…” he started with a low voice, not sure how to continue.

”I know, I know it’s dangerous or whatever," she started her frantic explanation. "But I’ve kept it a secret, you know I wouldn’t let anyone see me try one and I- I know I can be a witch too if I really–!”

”Himiko!” Shuichi interrupted her much too loud explanation. She jumped and stared at him with wide eyes. He realized his warning had probably come out harsher than he intended and softened his voice. ”We have a customer downstairs.”

Himiko looked around startled. Shuichi just sighed and closed his eyes.

”Look, I know your situation… And how this might seem to you when you hang out with me, but…” Shuichi started again, keeping his tone patient. As he talked he crossed his arms and leaned to the nearest shelf so that Himiko could see behind him in case anyone approached. ”We’re two very different people. There’s a reason I’ve stayed hidden so well and it’s not because I’m better at hiding it than anyone else. You should already know this very well by now... But just by being yourself you’re already more suspicious to people than I am even without any... skills.” He glanced at Himiko’s tattered skirt and her brownish shirt that looked like it might have been white once. "And you know what simple suspicions and rumours can lead to. So please... Just give it up." She didn't say anything.

Nobody had ever suspected Shuichi of being a witch, not even his uncle. He had practiced spells in his room, in the store, in their backyard. He habitually met with stray cats on the streets out in daylight to receive news from them while pretending to just feed them. Nobody paid attention to it, simply because he was a boy from a somewhat wealthy household. The hysteria about witchcraft was only getting worse every passing year which in turn had birthed a lot of stereotypes around it. Some of them were based in truth, such as the fact that most witches were female and that witches liked to cooperate with cats among some other useful animals, and then some that existed just to protect the nobility and the rich from suspicions, like the idea that witches were more likely to come from poor families. Shuichi was only lucky to avoid most of these stereotypes. He knew if he ever told Himiko what a cat could tell a witch just by staring at it’s eyes, she would go searching for one the first chance she got and people would immediately start looking at her the wrong way.

Still, Shuichi could kind of understand her. Her parents spent all day working to earn some kind of a living for themselves and Himiko and her little brother, leaving any time for spending time with them very limited. Even if they tried to work harder so that Himiko herself could at least spend most of her youth going out socializing and maybe even looking for a wealthy husband, her life was mostly very dull and uneventful. So when Shuichi was younger and more careless he decided to show his spells to her in secret, knowing it would brighten up her day every time. They would hide in his room and he’d turn the light peeking from his little window different beautiful colours with a simple hand gesture that he’d known of even before he was adopted. Himiko would study his arm in awe as the little images danced on it every time he cast a spell. One time he managed to give a tiny baby rat little brown wings, and Himiko clapped excitedly along while it tried to learn how to use them. It was a little harder and more panic-inducing to try to figure out how to return the rat back to normal before anyone else saw it, but he was happy nevertheless; he’d never been able to make someone else smile and laugh like that before. Even now, though he knew Himiko’s obsession with magic originated from exactly those days, he couldn’t bring himself to entirely regret showing it all to her.

Himiko still hadn’t replied. She stood there, gaze now fixated on some random book on the shelf across from Shuichi. He shook his head and wondered if she really heard anything he had said at all. He figured with her ongoing silence that now was a good time to leave her alone to think about it for a while, and so he turned around, ready to return to his position at the counter. This wasn’t the first time Shuichi had tried to talk to her about this and he doubted it would be the last.

”Shuichi”, she said suddenly. ”Can I go to the room in the basement too?”

Shuichi stopped and thought about it for a moment. He knew why she wanted to go there; what's a better place to find hidden or controversial information?

He could talk to her about it, he could worry for her… but in the end it was her choice what she wanted to do with her life.

”Just don’t bother the lady down there.”

Shuichi sat down behind the counter. He heard the door to downstairs close after Himiko and he picked up his book. The noises outside quieted down again, and Shuichi thought he could hear someone speak with a booming voice in the distance. Then the chanting started again. _Twice in one day?_ He tried to ignore it, like always; but the words in his book refused to make any sense to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
